Callan McAuliffe

Callan McAuliffe Callan Mcauliffe (28) is an Australian actor (based in New York and Sydney) most recently seen as series regular ‘Alden’ on the cult favourite ‘The Walking Dead’. In 2024 Callan will be seen playing the lead role of ‘Woody’ in the feature film ‘The Duel’ co-starring with Dylan Sprouse/distributed by Lionsgate. In 2023 Callan played the lead role in Amazon’s romantic period drama ‘Him and Her’ – based on a true story.

Callan was launched into the USA at age 14 as Rob Reiner’s lead ‘Bryce’ in the coming-of-age award winning “Flipped”. In the years following he played a the lead role of ‘Sam’ in Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay’s “I Am Number Four” and Young Gatsby to Leonardo Di Caprio’s lead role for Baz Luhrmann in “The Great Gatsby.” His lead role of ‘Oburi’ with Samuel Jackson in “Kite” based on the Japanese Anime, was followed by his first UK lead role as the young British hero ‘Sean Flynn’ in “Robot Overlords,” alongside Sir Ben Kingsley and Gillian Anderson. Callan’s training and success in the arts began early. He topped the Drama Scholarships in Australia at The SCOTS College, as well as The Australian Institute of Performing Arts, securing an opportunity to study Drama at UCLA at age 13. Callan also topped the London Trinity College Musical Theatre Exams. His studies continued via Mr Alan Flower (Sydney Theatre Company) and Screenwise. He has been nominated and won many awards including ‘Top Young Actor’ in the USA for “The Great Gatsby.” While working on “The Walking Dead,” Callan continued to play lead and supporting roles in feature films including “Summer Night” (Dir James Cross) released in 2019. He is also known for his original TIFF Breakout role in “Beneath the Harvest Sky” (Dir Aaron and Gita Pullapilly), “Hacker” (Award winning Kazakhstan Dir Akan Satayev), and Sundance favourite “The Stanford Prison Experiment” (Dir Kyle Patrick Alvarez). In Australia he has filmed the much loved TV series “Packed to the Rafters”, as well as iconic roles for “Cloudstreet” (Dir Matt Saville) and “Underground – The Julian Assange Story” (Dir Robert Connelly). His first short “Franswa Sharl” (Dir Hannah Hilliard) where he played a cross dressing teenager, received nine international awards, including a win at The Berlin Film Festival. More recently he played Australian bushranger ‘Daniel Ryan’ in the International Award Winning “The Legend of Ben Hall” (Dir Matthew Holmes). Callan’s unique ‘calling card’ voice and ability to change accents are used widely via feature films and television as well as international documentary series including “Code Red” and the “Rise and Fall of Hitler.” His ability to jump to a more light-hearted animated voices has been used for the new book “The Jar of Dreams” by Alan Riva (releasing 2020) and Callan’s own first fictional novel, “The Hill Ghost” released to 5-star reviews in 2019. With a tenor vibrato singing voice as well as topping Musical Theatre Exams as a youngster, Callan now enjoys singing mostly for his own enjoyment away from the camera. However, he did sing for the Season 9 Premiere of “The Walking Dead,” using his own acapella version of the Irish Ballad “The Last Rose of Summer.” Callan has made great achievements on many personal levels. These include securing the ‘Duke Of Edinburgh Award’ for Outdoor Survival (achieved in the Australian outback). He has been studying Mandarin for five years and plays, in his own words, “an obscure number of instruments.” He is currently learning the mandolin, fiddle and banjo. Callan also plays the electric and acoustic guitar, keyboard, and Chinese Erhu. Callan has always been a natural athlete. Prior to leaving Australia he was known as ‘The Flying Scotsman’ (fastest runner) and Champion athlete at The SCOTS College, Bellevue Hill, Australia. He was also the ‘striker’ in the top soccer team. A sports injury created a pause on the athletic field but opened the door to Musical Theatre as he secured the lead role in “Oliver” while mending a torn ligament. From this point, Callan turned his focus onto the performing arts and was rewarded with his first USA role via iconic Director, Rob Reiner in 2009. Callan’s philanthropic work is global and ongoing as the International Australian Ambassador for UNICEF. He also maintains his link to “The Wolf Connection” in California. An organisation focused on helping at risk teens, using rescued wolf dogs and counselling with their unique programmes. Callan has supported “The Wolf Connection” since the age of 15. Callan is also a Tourism Australia Ambassador working with Australians including Chris Hemsworth, Baz Luhrmann and artist Ken Done.